Restaurant Review: Smoky Jon's #1 BBQ
Even though it's got a bad rep, I love living in North Side. We've got large, beautiful parks; the fastest thoroughfares not called the Beltline; more burial mounds than the rest of the city combined, and one of the largest concentrations of them in Wisconsin; The Duck Pond, home to Madison's premier amateur baseball team, the Mallards.
And we've got Smoky Jon's #1 BBQ.
From a dining out perspective, the North Side doesn't have much. Feel like a burger? The best you can do is Culver's (not to say that's a bad burger, but there are better burgers in town, and they're far away). In the mood for Mandarin? Too bad, all the Chinese joints on this side of town suck, like all the Chinese joints in Madison. Are you hungry for a steak? You've got to head downtown for that (though I plead ignorance on Kavanaugh's Esquire Club - I'll get there one of these days). Don't even ask about sushi or Italian.
At the end of the day, there are only two restaurants of note in our neck of the woods: New Orleans Take-Out (we call it NOTO), and Smoky Jon's. Since you can't eat Cajun every night, sometimes you gotta get ribs.
I'd get a kick out of Smoky Jon's even if the food wasn't great, since it features cartoons of a pig eating ribs and shouting "They're outta this world!" and another pig lying on a large fire and dousing his belly in barbecue sauce. This Jon has a sense of humor.
But luckily, there's not just the signage, there's also the food. Smoky Jon's is a consistent winner at national barbecue competitions - he took home #2 in the country this year - and say what you will about KC-style or Texas-style or grammy's style, this is some damn good food.
Last night the ribs served up a perfect example: crusty exterior to the rack, a pink layer of meat immediately within (the "pink ring" that's key to all great barbecue), and at the bone, juicy, perfectly cooked pork saturated with flavor. All of it topped with a very sweet and spicy sauce that's generous with the pepper and sports floating pieces of onion.
Other nights I've had the pork shoulder sandwich, and the soft, chewy bun perfectly complements the sweet, tender, shredded pork that's generously heaped inside it. If you ask me, this is what the body of Christ must taste like. Heavenly!
The main attractions do the dirty work, but the sides have their own show as well. The coleslaw is crisp, if a little heavy on the mayo, and the beans taste like they came from a can, but the mashed potatoes, french fries, and corn are all the real thing. The corn comes swimming in hot butter and topped with black pepper, and the steak fries have that crisp on the outside, soft in the middle thing going on. And the mashed potatoes taste like real potatoes!
As if that weren't enough, every meal comes with a roll and some butter. Who has room for that?
After checking out the menu last night, for the first time I noticed a burger on the menu - a one pound sirloin cheeseburger that comes with 2 sides (and yes, probably a roll too). But that's for next time I'm there.
And we've got Smoky Jon's #1 BBQ.
From a dining out perspective, the North Side doesn't have much. Feel like a burger? The best you can do is Culver's (not to say that's a bad burger, but there are better burgers in town, and they're far away). In the mood for Mandarin? Too bad, all the Chinese joints on this side of town suck, like all the Chinese joints in Madison. Are you hungry for a steak? You've got to head downtown for that (though I plead ignorance on Kavanaugh's Esquire Club - I'll get there one of these days). Don't even ask about sushi or Italian.
At the end of the day, there are only two restaurants of note in our neck of the woods: New Orleans Take-Out (we call it NOTO), and Smoky Jon's. Since you can't eat Cajun every night, sometimes you gotta get ribs.
I'd get a kick out of Smoky Jon's even if the food wasn't great, since it features cartoons of a pig eating ribs and shouting "They're outta this world!" and another pig lying on a large fire and dousing his belly in barbecue sauce. This Jon has a sense of humor.
But luckily, there's not just the signage, there's also the food. Smoky Jon's is a consistent winner at national barbecue competitions - he took home #2 in the country this year - and say what you will about KC-style or Texas-style or grammy's style, this is some damn good food.
Last night the ribs served up a perfect example: crusty exterior to the rack, a pink layer of meat immediately within (the "pink ring" that's key to all great barbecue), and at the bone, juicy, perfectly cooked pork saturated with flavor. All of it topped with a very sweet and spicy sauce that's generous with the pepper and sports floating pieces of onion.
Other nights I've had the pork shoulder sandwich, and the soft, chewy bun perfectly complements the sweet, tender, shredded pork that's generously heaped inside it. If you ask me, this is what the body of Christ must taste like. Heavenly!
The main attractions do the dirty work, but the sides have their own show as well. The coleslaw is crisp, if a little heavy on the mayo, and the beans taste like they came from a can, but the mashed potatoes, french fries, and corn are all the real thing. The corn comes swimming in hot butter and topped with black pepper, and the steak fries have that crisp on the outside, soft in the middle thing going on. And the mashed potatoes taste like real potatoes!
As if that weren't enough, every meal comes with a roll and some butter. Who has room for that?
After checking out the menu last night, for the first time I noticed a burger on the menu - a one pound sirloin cheeseburger that comes with 2 sides (and yes, probably a roll too). But that's for next time I'm there.
posted by Sam at
6:37 PM
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